Lombards

The Lombards, also known as the Langobards, were a Germanic people who ruled most of Italy from 568 to 774. The Lombards descended from the Winnili tribe of Scandinavia, and they formed a part of the Suebi in northwestern Germany in the 1st century AD. By the end of the 5th century, they moved into Austria and Slovakia north of the Danube River, where they fought frequent wars with the Gepids. The Lombard king Audoin defeated the Gepid leader Thurisind in 551, and his successor Alboin destroyed the Gepids in 567. Following this victory, Alboin led the Lombards into Italy, and they were joined by the Saxons, Heruls, Gepids, Bulgars, Thuringians, and Ostrogoths. By 569, they had conquered all of northern Italy and the principle cities north of the Po River except for Pavia, which fell in 572. At the same time, they occupied areas in central and southern Italy. In 774, the Lombard kingdom was conquered by the Frankish king Charlemagne, but Lombard nobles continued to rule southern Italy well into the 11th century, when they were conquered by the Normans and added to their County of Sicily. Today, the northern Italian region of Lombardy is named for the Lombards.